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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020943">Look</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayhood/pseuds/jayhood'>jayhood</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, F/F, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Mystery, Post-Under the Red Hood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:01:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,542</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020943</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayhood/pseuds/jayhood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steph gets ambushed by a mysterious woman in need of her help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Stephanie Brown/Talia al Ghul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Look</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It's not something she had considered before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why not?" The woman asks, her movement on the Kevlar suggestive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeah, it's a real high-quality stuff. As demonstrated previously, able to withstand a direct hit by a knife that sliced through the grapple line as a mouline thread.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why the fuck not, Stephanie asks herself. It's better than anything she wore before, even the Robin suit. Certainly will support her boobs better: a woman designed it, that much is clear. Not the one that is currently trying to - seduce Steph to the other side or whatever this is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's the real deal. Stuff that Nightwing wears, or Robin - the new one. Batman, too. Tim, maybe? After she came back, he was already elsewhere. Not Cass though - she doesn’t need it because she doesn’t let anyone hit her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s even purple which just shows that it’s too good to be true. Stephanie sighs and pushes the suit away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman misinterprets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not only armor,” she takes out the equipment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Night vision goggles, miniature balls that must be smoke bombs, a taser, claw, cryptographic sequencer, really great and compact med kit (it has those patches that stick your wound together so you won’t bleed out in the middle of the battlefield - Steph is really in favor of that). Fucking jet boots! Bo staff, collapsible. A set of knives. An honest to god small sword, a little curved. A set of vials with fascinating names. And it keeps coming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The more stuff is on the table, the less comfortable Stephanie is feeling. When Batman signed her on, he gave her shit too. But not this much. Nobody tried to buy Steph this hard, ever. She tries to look less worried and more unimpressed, crossing her hands on the chest and looking straight at her new acquaintance instead of the goods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman senses a change in the mood. She fixes a lock of her hair behind her ear, the movement so delicate it has no place in a business transaction except for how it totally does: she probably sold a lot of things to a lot of people with little gestures like that: a quirk of lips here, a look out of the corner of the eye there, and angle your neck just right and you’re going to get people eating out of your hands. Stephanie just never had this kind of negotiation tactic turned against her before. She’s not like Bruce Wayne, she doesn’t have an immunity to it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, that’s it,” Stephanie points her finger at the woman. “What do you really want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your success,” the woman smiles like she was waiting for this question. “That’s all I need from you. Batman considers you a failure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He does not,” Stephanie snarks. “And your weak-sauce attempts to turn me against…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what he does, child,” the woman says. “He can’t face his mistakes. And that’s what your death was, his mistake, not yours. Did anyone tell you that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leslie, kinda. Stephanie shivers. She hasn't spoken to Leslie since she came back - and Leslie hasn't. Has been banned from the city - their city. Batman’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to give you all those things so you could do something horrible to the Bat,” the woman continues. “I want you to succeed in doing what you do, and in that, make him face his faults. Get revenge on him, if you wish, by living your best life. I would never send you to kill him - if it comes to that between me and him, I better do it myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t seem like a person who gets their hands dirty,” Stephanie snorts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taking Batman on? This princess doesn’t stand a chance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I make sure to wear gloves,” the woman grins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stephanie shakes her head. She’s done with crazy people. But she can’t help but consider the proposal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what are the exact terms of this arrangement?” she asks just to be clear. “Is it one-off? Or are you going to be backing me in exchange for intel or something? A spy in Batman’s close circle, so when you do put your gloves on, it would be easier to get him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Consider it’s a simple aid,” the woman says. “Like a grant you will get when you go to college.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s creepy enough this woman knows her bra size. Did she read her college essays too?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You get those based on some kind of condition still. Good grades, sports, things like that. So what’s your condition?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s more of…” the woman suddenly closes her eyes, makes a slight sideways movement with her head. Like the thought that she just got was surprisingly painful to her, and she doesn’t want to finish the sentence. When she looks back at Stephanie, the smile is back in place. “If you so want for something to give me in return, I suppose I can benefit from your help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stephanie knew it. There is always something!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew it,” she says, satisfied. “So, what is it? I’m not saying yes, mind you, but I am willing to hear you out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the very least, what this woman wants could be useful to track her identity and what’s your objective is. Batman is going to be - not proud, but maybe a little bit impressed, if she went to him with the news about another of his nemesis running amok trying to buy people?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am looking for someone,” the woman says. She turns completely serious. There’s nothing flirtatious in her anymore. “Last place he has been seen is Gotham. It was two years ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That, I can’t tell you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, let’s start simple. What does he look like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That, I can’t tell you. As many do among your fellow citizens, he preferred to hide his face behind a mask - a helmet, actually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He used an alias. Red Hood - have you heard of him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stephanie shakes her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was after I left. Why are you looking for him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman hesitates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do know him,” Stephanie says. “All that bull crap about alias and a mask - you know exactly who he is. What, an ex doesn’t return your calls?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my son,” the woman says with the first hint of real emotion from her. “It’s my son, and his real name won’t help you find him, or find out what happened to him, neither will his looks. If you must know, his hair was as black as mine, and it curled at the ends. That’s why he preferred the helmet. His eyes changed color depending on his moods. What else do you think I can tell you that is going to help? That I raised him without father? That he felt the pain of others so deeply, he wanted to give his all to make it stop hurting? That he has a little brother who never met him, isn't aware he exists, maybe won't ever get a chance to meet?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I don't think it would be helpful," Stephanie is not trying to be an asshole. But it's not. "What he was doing in Gotham? A mask, you wear it either to fight crime or to do crime."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He was always an overachiever."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You keep talking about him like he's dead."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's what I last heard about it," the woman says. "But I need you to confirm it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you want me to find out who killed him or something?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You are going to do it anyway," the woman smiles again. "It is a mystery. And you hate those."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman turns to leave, all things she brought here to Steph’s apartment are still on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I didn’t agree to anything yet!” Steph calls after her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the woman is gone already. And Steph is left alone, with a lot of things that were touched by this woman - without gloves, might Steph add, - and a fingerprint kit hidden in her closet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where did you get those?" Barbara asks when Steph comes by that evening.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steph has her caveats about the woman. About all the cool stuff she just got dropped at her lap. The "mystery" - which she does hate, by the way. She's not wearing that fancy suit... But the spiked gloves, though: they look very badass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She went over it with the bug detector though. Of course, there's still a question if it's going to work on things the woman herself might have installed. Steph tested it on one of the trackers - she had a whole package of them now, with a tablet that stored all movements up to 2 weeks and a range of three square feet. It worked in them at least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My birthday came early," she says, bringing her hands closer to Barbara. "Cool, huh?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Batman gave you this? I thought you were still on non-speaking terms."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, we are."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barbara just looks at her, waiting. But Steph knows she's not going to ask. At best, Barbara will wait for her to come forward herself. More likely, Oracle is going to look up Steph's movements in the last 48 hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stephanie is sure that the woman is not going to be caught on CCTV so it's fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Smart thing to do would be to tell Barbara everything. Steph maybe is not the most well-read person she knows, even if you discount Barbara who officially works in the library, but she knows what a Greek gift is. She’s pretty sure the smart thing is also throwing all the stuff she was gifted into a dumpster. But she doesn’t have a fortune left behind by her parents, or daddy’s money, or skills to hack herself so much white-collar scumbags' money as she needs to keep her operations rolling, or however Babs affords all those servers. Stephanie has to balance between doing a smart thing and doing another smart thing: keeping things that can keep her alive a touch more successfully than the last time around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not that she blames the lack of funding on the whole - what happened with Black Mask. But anything that can give her an edge in the fight, it’s gotta count for something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Stephanie says, taking out the prints she took this afternoon. It wasn’t an easy job either, with most of the prints partial or smudged. “I have two favors to ask. Could you run this for me and not ask me what case it is for? Because it’s not for a case.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barbara inclines her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should I not ask you what’s it for at all?” And when Stephanie nods, she motions over for Steph to put the prints onto the scanner and sighs. “What’s the second one?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need to forward me all the information you have on Red Hood.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Babs sighs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>heard </span>
  </em>
  <span>about him,” she admits, making no move toward the keyboard. “But that’s pretty much it. I wasn’t in Gotham then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barbara, leaving the city? It does not compute. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s reluctant to tell Stephanie details though, saying that she was with the Birds of Prey at the time. No explanation. In fact, Babs starts to sound pissed so Steph doesn’t press her luck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay. Who was around? Cass?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Left to find her mother. Before you ask,” Barbara puts one hand up. “Dick had his hands full in Bludhaven, Tim’s father just died, and he moved to Titans Tower. I don’t know where Kate was, though. And, of course, there’s the Big Man himself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stephanie doesn’t know where Kate is </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and going to Bruce is out of the question. Not until she knows more. Otherwise, he’s going to shut her down as soon as he hears about the femme fatale that paid Steph a visit. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. There’s something personal between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you just…” Steph wiggles her fingers. “Work your magic?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barbara frowns. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would if I could. But after I came back to Gotham, I tried to catch up on as many major events as possible. And Red Hood by all accounts was a big-time player - I heard about him from my father, even, and he usually doesn’t discuss cases with me. Though it was more like, thank god Barbara you came back now and not few months earlier, than a discussion, per se. Anyway,” Babs shrugs. “Sparked my interest with that. I tried to look it up, and sure, I can forward you what I got from GCPD, but then, I got into Batman’s system and…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Babs frowns, tip of her finger touching her lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>on Red Hood at Batman’s servers that wasn’t a copy of the GCPD file.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So. Bruce doesn’t know who that is either?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes…” Barbara trails off. “I don’t…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shakes her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am going to forward you that file, now,” she says, turning back to the monitor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That didn’t strike you as strange?” Steph presses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Batman is the most anal-retentive person Steph knows. It isn’t like him to just - let the police handle it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barbara waves her left hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not as such, not then. It was pretty cut and dry, you know? Red Hood died in explosion that was his own handiwork. Case was pretty much closed… Or so I thought. You apparently want to reopen it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>yeah</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Steph says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She needs the files that the police have on Hood, and Barbara is the only person who can give them to her. It would be rude not to explain at least something. She still hesitates though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I kinda… got hired? To investigate a missing person case? A mom’s looking for her kid, thinks it could be related to Red Hood.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you considering a career change?” Barbara smiles teasingly. “Stephanie Brown, </span>
  <em>
    <span>P.I.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what they say, if you want to do what you love for the whole life, you might as well charge money for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s, if you want to start </span>
  <em>
    <span>hating </span>
  </em>
  <span>what you love…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Steph crosses her arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Normally, I would say it’s a bad idea. Who was that? Are you sure you’re not being set up? But…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even if I am,” Steph says, because the same thought came to her before. “It’s still good practice to follow up on it. I mean, if it is a setup, what I am being set up for? For what purpose? Who benefits? You know. All those questions that should be asked before I </span>
  <em>
    <span>spoil </span>
  </em>
  <span>yet another evil plan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Babs takes out a flash drive from one of the USB ports and half turns around to pass it off to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As long as you go at it with both your eyes open,” she says, her hand still on the drive when Steph reaches out to take it from her. “And. Keep me posted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You won’t tell Bruce, will you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Babs hesitates but shakes her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. Not unless it’s necessary. You know,” she lets Stephanie take the drive, turns her back on her again. “To prevent you from dying or getting hurt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steph feels a sharp tag in her side. She touches the scar briefly, but when she notices what she’s doing, she squeezes her fist.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Again </span>
  </em>
  <span>is a word that doesn’t have to be said out loud. The conversation is over. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Can you believe there is almost no Steph/Talia fic out here? There's RomanJay, there's your Sladick, there's Ra's/Tim, but nothing for the girls (or Duke, but there's too little content for him in general).<br/>I wanted to rectify that though this fic doesn't carry the same energy. It's going to be a fun story to read anyway, hopefully.</p><p>Comment, like and subscribe and I will see you guys the next time! :)</p><p>Or follow me on <a href="https://redjaybathood.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a>, sometimes I post snippets there and answer questions.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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